A Vibrant Seattle Through Transportation Excellence.

Seattle is a vibrant, technologically innovative city and our freshly updated City design manual follows suit. Seattle Streets Illustrated, is an interactive online resource to help architects, engineers, and property owners involved in projects within street right-of-way.

Streets Illustrated is setting the standard for other major cities including New York and Los Angeles, with Seattle being one of the first major cities to adopt a completely online and interactive design manual.

Included are new standards for bicycles, transit, freight, accessibility, emergency response, and urban center design enhancements.

Image: Twelve new street types.

A New Vision for Seattle’s Streets

Seattle today is facing the challenges that come with being one of the fastest-growing major cities in the country. Our streets must continue to adapt to accommodate a multi-use system that is efficient, safe, and accessible to all travelers. Streets Illustrated provides the tools to reshape the right-of-way to meet the needs for today and the Seattle of tomorrow. Street right-of-way accounts for twenty-seven percent of city land and has a tremendous impact on how people move through the city. Explore some of Streets Illustrated‘s cool new features:

We have an exciting new food vending location coming soon to downtown! In partnership with the Downtown Seattle Association (DSA), we’re creating a new Pavement to Parks installation in the 300 block of Pine Street. The newly created park includes two spaces for left-side-serving curb-space vendors and we’re inviting any eligible food trucks to apply now, with vending starting as early as November 20, 2017, just in time for the holiday season. Vending will be allowed at this location from 10 AM to 2 PM, 7 days a week.

To be eligible, vendors must:

Use a food truck that allows for vending out of the left-hand side of the truck. No truck-and-trailer combos or food carts will be allowed to operate at this location.

Pardon the cliché, but we really do think good things come in small packages. Like the community parks created thru the Pavement to Parks program for instance. Since 2015 we’ve created eleven little parks, helping bring neighbors together and provide outdoor space for people of all ages to play.

People love the heck out of our city and are moving here at the rate of 1,000 newbies a week! As Seattle grows denser, the need for vibrant public space becomes more important than ever. Pavement to Parks helps to solve that need by establishing community-driven gathering spaces from underutilized street space.

The newest park, in Little Saigon, opened in September. Designed by the community, it features images from Vietnamese folklore and provides the perfect place to enjoy lunch from one of the neighboring restaurants.

Shall we play a game? You may also recognize this one on Capitol Hill on Summit Avenue E.

Two more parks are scheduled to be added soon, in Lake City and Downtown Seattle. Use this map to see all the Pavement to Parks locations. We challenge you to visit them all!

This month, Play Streets introduces a special expedited permitting for Halloween. Instead of the usual 30-day turnaround, permits received by October 17 will be processed in time for Halloween. So this Hallow’s Eve treat your favorite ghouls and goblins to a festive celebration with friends and neighbors. Complete your application today!

In case you are not familiar with Play Streets, it’s a permitting program that closes a neighborhood street to traffic so kids and adults can have more space for play and physical activity. Since 2013, over 350 Play Streets permits have been issued in neighborhoods across Seattle.

This Friday, September 15th, from 9am to 7pm, you may see something like this next to the curb:

Don’t worry, it’s perfectly normal once a year in Seattle – on PARK(ing) Day! PARK(ing) Day is an international movement and a chance for people to come up with fun, new ways to occupy on-street parking spots (with permission, of course) and temporarily turn them into… a mobile art studio…

…a pop-up park…

…or whatever you can think of!

Come check out PARK(ing) Day! We even have a map so you can plan your route and see all the creative installations around the city. PARK(ing) Day is this Friday, September 15th between 9am and 7pm. You’ll see everything from arts and crafts to bike repair and snacks – or just find an awesome place to sit and relax! When you see something that inspires you, let others know #parkingdaySEA @parkingdaySEA

In the mood for art and dining outside this evening? Try Pike People Street and the Capitol Hill Art Walk, from 4PM to 10PM. Grab great food from local restaurants then stay for a bit of street ‘activation’ on the docket. It all supports a vibrant Capitol Hill community!For Pike People Street nights, a couple blocks around 11th and E Pike are cordoned off to create a safe, accessible pedestrian plaza of sorts. This is the 3rd year of the Pike People Street pilot program, evolving in partnership with the neighborhood. The 2017 schedule includes the 2nd Thursday of July and August, as well as July and August Saturdays.Saturday Pike People Street hours are 6PM to 3AM, with three left to go:August 12, 19, and 26.

Got an idea for a cool activity, to add in during one of the last Pike People Street Saturdays? Fill out this simple application form. These temporary pedestrian spaces create room for bands, yoga, viewing art, visiting a local café, or simply enjoying warm summer nights.

PARK(ing) Day is coming up on September 15, transforming ordinary pavement into works of art, game spaces or comfy hangouts for a day. If your group plans on participating, be sure to submit your completed PARK(ing) Day applicationby August 18!

And don’t forget to apply for the Small Sparks Neighborhood Matching Fundby August 7. You could get up to $5,000 to help you create that Parisian bistro you’ve been dreaming about, or the Star Wars-themed parklet you’ve been planning for PARK(ing) Day!

Want to learn more? Check out this video showing the kinds of things Small Sparks has funded….

The annual, worldwide PARK(ing) Day event draws a lot of interest in Seattle – check out our gallery of amazing 1-day installations for some inspiration!

With your participation we hope to have 100 mini-parks around the city on this year’s PARK(ing) Day!

Jude’s Old Town restaurant has been permitted by the Seattle Department of Transportation (SDOT) to be the fifth streatery in the city. The new streatery will open on Sunday, August 6th at 3pm at 9252 57th Ave S in the Rainier Beach neighborhood.

The streatery is part of SDOT’s Streatery Pilot Program. The project converts a parking space on 57th Ave S into additional space for outdoor dining and a new public gathering place on the block.

Concept rendering…come see the concept turned into reality on Sunday, August 6!

Streateries, like parklets, are open spaces constructed in a small number of on-street parking spaces. They can be used as a space for table service during a restaurant or café’s business hours, whereas parklets always remain open for public use. Both installations are intended to activate streets, provide new public gathering places, and support economic vitality.

The Streatery Pilot Program was launched in early 2015 to test how streateries work as a new way to promote vibrancy within Seattle’s business districts. SDOT is continuing to invite additional businesses to participate in the Streatery Pilot Program. We will collect data on installed streateries throughout the year and make a recommendation about a permanent streatery program later in the year.

For more information about this event or SDOT’s Streatery Pilot Program, please call 206.615.1028, email: parklets@seattle.gov, or visit the Streatery Pilot Program webpage.

Food trucks and sidewalk cafes are a great way for entrepreneurs to bring delicious food from diverse cultures to Seattle. But what does it take to actually open your own? That question and many others were answered at the first of two annual Food Business Roadshows held earlier this month.

Food trucks at Westlake Park.

This event at the Seattle Central Public Library brought together food vendors and industry experts to share ideas and answer questions. More than 40 people received one-on-one coaching to pursue their dreams of owning and operating their own food vending business. The roadshow launched in 2016, and is now scheduled to happen every spring and fall!

The event is hosted by the Seattle Office of Economic Development, and includes other agencies such as the Seattle Department of Construction and Inspection and King County Public Health to help provide guidance and feedback to prospective entrepreneurs.

Are you interested in opening your own food truck, or learning more? Call our friendly vending team to schedule a free permit coaching session to jump start your future food business. Or, join us for the next Food Business Roadshow, scheduled for Thursday, September 28th at the Seattle Central Public Library.